Patriots Pursuing Big-Name Offensive Tackle Never Made Sense

The New England Patriots seemingly bypassed a golden opportunity on Wednesday.

Cam Robinson agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the Houston Texans, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, taking what many believed to be the last viable starting offensive tackle off the free agent market.

We don’t think it’s a coincidence he was still on the open market, however.

Robinson has a “spotty reputation” when it comes to his football character, as motivation was an issue for him during the latter half of his stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported as much when discussing possible interest in the veteran, which is an added negative on a resume that already includes a rash of injuries, suspensions and benchings.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel isn’t the kind of coach willing to test the waters with so many red flags out in the open, either.

Do you remember what he said about free agency at the introductory press conference of Morgan Moses, Robert Spillane, Milton Williams and Carlton Davis?

“I don’t know how you could do free agency any differently,” Vrabel said, per team-provided video. “I really don’t… It’s important to me — and (Patriots owner Robert Kraft trusted executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf) and myself to bring the right people onto this football team. If we have coaches that trust and believe in players, we have to take that into consideration… I think that’s critical.

“We have to evaluate the tape, then it’s about the person… I’ve seen from these players that they aren’t going to go anywhere, and the other ones we bring in and the others that are in the locker room right now, they’re resilient and they’re not going to back down. It really helps when you know somebody, or you’ve coached them, or a trusted personnel member has been with that player. It’s important.”

New England puts a heavy emphasis on having previous experience working with individual players, and clearly doesn’t mind letting that experience influence whether it decides to renew the relationship. Doug Marrone coached the 29-year-old for four seasons with the Jaguars, and the experience playing a role in whether the Patriots wanted to pursue him was essentially confirmed by Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi.

Patriots Draft Profile: This Prospect Could Play Perfectly Into Plans

Mar 18  |  2:10 pm

Do you need any more reasons why the union never would have made sense?

Robinson wasn’t good last season with the Minnesota Vikings, who traded for him after a season-ending injury to Christian Darrisaw. Pro Football Focus rated him as an extremely average full-time starting tackle. NextGenStats considered him much worse, charting him as having allowed the highest one-on-one pressure rate among all qualifying tackles in the NFL.

Vederian Lowe and Demontrey Jacobs included.

Robinson was a name you knew, not a name you needed to have on your football team. The Patriots can, and will, do much better.